Some 450 Rohingya asylum seekers from Burma have reportedly landed on
Malaysia’s northern island of Langkawi after a hazardous two-week boat
journey across the Andaman Sea.
A local police official is quoted by The Associated Press
as saying that the asylum seekers arrived on Sunday and are currently
in police custody. One man is reported to have drowned while trying to
swim ashore.
Several other news agencies reported that the captain of the boat had forced hundreds of the Rohingyas to swim ashore.
“The
refugees, aged between 7 and 50, were forced to swim the 500 meters to
shore after paying US $300 each for the 12-day trip from Myanmar in a
30-meter boat,” Malaysian news agency Bernama said.
The
UN’s refugee agency has about 25,000 Muslim Rohingyas registered in
Malaysia. More and more cases of asylum seekers are expected during this
winter season as people try to flee continuing sectarian violence in
Burma’s Rakhine State.
Monday, 31 December 2012 12:48
Mizzima News
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